State notches 992 increase in virus cases

Governor points to uptick in number of people tested

This undated electron microscope image made available by the U.S. National Institutes of Health in February 2020 shows the Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus causes covid-19. - Photo by NIAID-RML via AP
This undated electron microscope image made available by the U.S. National Institutes of Health in February 2020 shows the Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus causes covid-19. - Photo by NIAID-RML via AP

Arkansas' count of coronavirus cases rose Thursday by 992 -- the largest one-day increase in almost a week.

The state's count of cases confirmed through molecular tests rose by 883, to 71,614.

The tally of probable cases, which include those diagnosed through less-sensitive antigen tests, grew by 109, to 1,597.

The count of virus deaths rose by nine, including eight deaths among confirmed cases and one among probable cases.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson, in a statement on the day's covid-19 numbers, highlighted the "almost 10,000" tests that were performed Wednesday, including 7,910 molecular tests and 1,746 antigen tests.

"Of course, this means we identified new cases, and this will allow our more than 770 contact tracers to do their work and reduce the spread of the virus," the Republican governor said.

"Right now, we are concentrating on identifying communities that have an increased level of spread and encouraging stricter compliance with our health guidelines."

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He said he was encouraged by the increased use of antigen tests, which he tied to the state's purchase of 200 antigen testing machines that he said are "helping address the new demand for rapid tests on our K-12 and college campuses."

State Epidemiologist Jennifer Dillaha said the increase in cases "shows that we definitely do have community spread occurring in Arkansas."

She said the number of tests conducted Wednesday was "pretty high."

"I'm glad for that high number because that means that we're testing cases that need to be isolated in a timely way, and hopefully their contacts can be quarantined in a timely way so we can break the chain of transmission," she said.

The state's cumulative total case count, including probable and confirmed cases since March 11, rose to 73,211, while its count of total virus deaths rose to 1,166.

The death toll included 1,018 deaths among confirmed cases and 148 among probable cases.

The number of people hospitalized in the state with covid-19 increased by two, to 389, while the number of people who have ever been hospitalized with the virus in the state rose by 56, to 4,896.

The number of virus patients who were on ventilators rose by seven, to 72, even though the Department of Health reported that that number of patients who had ever been on a ventilator rose by only three, to 619.

The number of confirmed and probable cases in the state that were considered active rose by 189, to 6,100, as 794 Arkansans were newly classified as having recovered.

Despite the different classifications, the Health Department has said it treats confirmed and probable cases the same for the purposes of its contact-tracing efforts.

That includes requiring people whose results are positive from either type of test to isolate themselves, and those they may have infected to quarantine.

The combined increase in confirmed and probable cases, as well as the increase in confirmed cases alone, was the largest since last Friday, when the state recorded a record 1,107 uptick in confirmed cases and 73 new probable cases.

Health Department spokeswoman Danyelle McNeill said the number of antigen tests done Wednesday was the most in a single day at least since Aug. 1.

Hutchinson has set a goal of having 180,000 molecular tests of Arkansans and 10,000 antigen tests this month, an average of 6,000 molecular tests and about 333 antigen tests a day.

As of Wednesday, 118,866 molecular tests and 9,348 antigen tests had been conducted this month, a daily average of about 7,429 molecular tests and 584 antigen tests.

Excluding 139 deaths of probable cases that were added to the state's case tallies Wednesday, the average number of confirmed or probable cases added to the counts each day over a rolling seven-day period increased Thursday by 44, to 753.

But despite the uptick, the average daily increase over seven days in confirmed cases, at 667, remained below the state's peak average daily increase of 780 in the seven-day span that ended July 29.

The state's hospitalizations were also still down from their peak of 526 on Aug. 4.

Similarly, the number of active confirmed cases, 5,726, remained below the state's high of 7,387 on Aug. 9.

COLLEGE CASES

Of the confirmed or probable cases added to the state's tallies Thursday, 235, or almost 24%, were among Arkansans age 18-24.

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That age group makes up just 9.6% of the state's population, according to a 2018 estimate from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey, but almost 16% of Arkansas' coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic.

As tracked in the Health Department's biweekly reports on cases at educational institutions, the number of active or confirmed cases among college students and employees rose by 349, to 3,021, between Monday and Thursday.

But the number of cases that are active had been falling since it approached 1,300 a week earlier.

From Monday to Thursday, it fell by 280, to 785.

"I know that we're seeing an upward trend of cases in college-age students in Craighead County, so I'm thinking that's likely related to [Arkansas State University in Jonesboro]," Dillaha said.

According to the Health Department reports, the number of cases among students and employees at the university increased by 92, to 204, from Monday to Thursday.

The number of active cases, meanwhile, fell by 26, to 32.

That was the fourth-highest number of active cases among the state's colleges and universities, coming after the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, and the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.

ASU's website, however, listed 146 active cases Thursday.

That was down from the 187 cases reported on the site Monday, but up from 135 on Wednesday.

The latest total included 140 active cases among students and six among employees.

At UA, Dillaha said, "there was, I think a lot of transmission occurring in social activities related to fraternities and sororities and parties and the social activities that occur outside of campus, or related to non-school, non-athletic-related activities or events."

But she said a warning about risky off-campus gatherings by then-interim Provost Charles Robinson, who was elevated to the provost position Wednesday, seemed to be effective.

Robinson in a Sept. 4 letter to the campus said UA would treat parties and other gatherings of 10 or more students "without very clearly maintained safety elements such as social distancing and mask-wearing" as a violation of the university's "Code of Student Life."

According to the Health Department, the number of active cases among UA students and employees fell from a high of 961 as of Sept. 7 to 460 as of Thursday.

On its website, the university has posted different numbers that show a similar decline. The site listed 305 active cases as of its last update Wednesday.

From Monday to Thursday, the Health Department listed active cases among students and employees as increasing by six, to 53, at UCA and falling by 13, to 34, at UAPB.

INSTRUCTIONAL SHIFTS

Among the state's public school districts, the number of students and employees who have tested positive for the coronavirus rose by 311, to 3,230, between Monday and Thursday.

The number of those cases that were considered active rose by 36, to 610.

The count of cumulative cases rose by 239, to 2,414, among students and by 70, to 791 among employees.

Those totals are less than the overall total of 3,230 because of "unavailable data," according to the Health Department reports.

Within the Little Rock School District, four employees and one student were identified in the 24-hour period ending at 3 p.m. Thursday as having tested positive, the district reported.

The student goes to Southwest High School, where 51 students were quarantined because of possible exposure to the virus.

The employees included one at Forest Heights STEM Academy, where four other employees were quarantined, two at Horace Mann Magnet Middle School and one at Western Hills Elementary School.

At Timbo Elementary School in Stone County, a single sixth-grade class of pupils shifted Thursday from on-site to virtual instruction because of a covid-19 case, Mountain View School District Superintendent Brent Howard said.

The entire class is being quarantined out of an abundance of caution, with classroom instruction scheduled to resume Sept. 28, he said.

Earlier in the school year, the district shifted a fifth-grade wing, a first-grade class and a classroom of special-needs students to virtual learning. Those on-site classes have since resumed.

Meanwhile, the Westside School District in Johnson County posted on its Facebook page Thursday that a classroom at the district's elementary school in Hartman will be quarantined as a result of a covid-19 case.

Superintendent Brad Kent said in-person instruction for the class will resume Oct. 5.

According to the Health Department's reports, the number of active cases among students and employees in the Springdale School District rose by 10, to 29, between Monday and Thursday.

It moved ahead of the Fort Smith School District as the district in the state with the highest number of active cases as the number in the Fort Smith district fell by two, to 23.

The Berryville and Pulaski County Special school districts tied for the next-highest active case total, 16, followed by the Little Rock district, which had 15.

CASES BY COUNTY

The number of confirmed or probable cases listed on the Health Department's online dashboard of coronavirus information increased by 106 in Washington County, 86 in Jefferson County, 79 in Pulaski County, 68 in Sebastian County, 47 in Benton County and 36 in Craighead County.

The number of cases for which information about the person's county of residence was missing increased by 77, to 1,535.

Fifty-two of the confirmed cases were among prison or jail inmates.

Such increases can reflect new cases or ones that were added earlier but not immediately classified as coming from a jail or prison.

Cases among inmates are also sometimes added several days after a test is conducted, after information from laboratory reports is entered into a state database.

McNeill said most of the 52 inmate cases added Thursday were at the Department of Corrections' Maximum Security Unit in Jefferson County.

Corrections Department spokeswoman Cindy Murphy said the number of cases at the prison increased from 30 on Wednesday to 55 as of Thursday, including 32 that were considered active.

Washington County, as of Thursday, had the state's highest number of active cases, 651, followed by Pulaski County, which had 648, Jefferson County, which had 403, and Craighead County, which had 328.

The Health Department's count of deaths among active and confirmed cases increased by two, to 21, among Arkansans age 25-34; by one, to 185, among those age 55-64; and by six, to 845, those 65 or older.

Among nursing home residents, the department's count of virus deaths rose by two, to 368.

The number of deaths among confirmed or probable cases increased by two in Stone County and by one each in Craighead, Faulkner, Crawford, Saline, Mississippi, Fulton and Little River counties.

UAMS BUDGET

Also Thursday, officials at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences said the loss in revenue because of the virus hasn't been as bad as they expected, thanks to the resumption of elective procedures at UAMS Medical Center and thousands of covid-19 screenings.

The teaching hospital, shortly after the pandemic took hold in Arkansas, budgeted a $45.6 million revenue decline for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2021.

It was a large chunk of money, though it amounted to a less than 3% revenue drop from the original budget for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2020.

UAMS leaders projected a $6.5 million operating deficit in July but instead posted a $6.9 million positive operating margin, according to a report supplied to the University of Arkansas System board of trustees.

That trend has continued through August, Chancellor Cam Patterson told the trustees Thursday. UAMS now has more days of cash on hand than it did before the pandemic, he said.

UAMS began slowly phasing in elective procedures this spring and now has no restrictions on them, except when a prospective patient refuses to take a covid-19 test or tests positive.

The hospital has caught asymptomatic patients through that pre-procedure testing process, Patterson said.

UAMS has done more than 10,000 covid-19 screenings since the fiscal year started, Chief Financial Officer Amanda George told trustees. The screenings aren't very profitable, she said, but the number of them done is more than expected.

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Coronavirus daily updates and cumulative covid-19 cases in Arkansas

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